A guitar with surprising reserves of depth and power, at an extremely appealing price.

The limited edition Epiphone Les Paul Special SC Electric Guitar reproduces the simple pleasures of a 55-year-old classic. At the same time the guitar updates the format with a second pickup—in the neck position, a la the Les Paul Special—and improved hardware in the form of a Tune-O-Matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece combination.

Introduced in 1954 as an entry-level version of the Les Paul, the Les Paul Junior graduated from kids bedrooms, to garage bands, to club and arena stages through the course of 3 decades as it became a favorite not only with beginners, but with professional guitarists, too. The bare-bones, slab-bodied, single-cutaway electric guitar earned the respect of rock and rollers in particular, and became a punk favorite in the late '70s and early '80s, but also turned up in the hands of a surprisingly diverse range of guitar stars.

As simple as the Les Paul Junior is in design and construction, its basic cornerstone ingredients add up to create a robust and toneful guitar. The marriage of hot, raw single-coil P-90 pickups, a resonant mahogany body, and sturdy glued-in neck make the Epiphone Les Paul Special SC a guitar with surprising reserves of depth and power at an extremely appealing price.

I've been wanting this guitar for a long time, being that I'm a big fan of the Stone Temple Pilots and Dean DeLeo's tone. Sadly the guitar was only available as a Gibson model and has always been out of my price range. When I saw that Epiphone had finally released this model for a price in my range I immediately ran down to the guitar center to try it out. I wasn't dissappointed. What I love about this guitar are the P90s: They have the punch and twang of single coils with the warmth and thickness off humbuckers. The tone knobs have a surprising range as well, letting you dial in your perfect tone. And I love that they kept the vintage TV Yellow color, or Red if you want something different.I play through a Marshall MG100HDFX (Solid State) with a Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion as my primary Overdrive/Distortion pedal. This guitar sounds beautiful clean and has a nice creamy tone when overdriven. I myself am usually a Fender player but I couldn't deny this guitar and it has become one of my primary guitars for recording and live shows. For this price it's a steal and would even say this competes with a genuine Gibson model. I highly recommend it, you won't be disappointed.

I have found that this guitar (or any soapbar rig) requires a nice amp to help bring out the punch you can get from these pickups. Just about any amp is OK with humbuckers and I think this is why some people just don't like soapbar pickups (my opinion; and you know what they say about opinions)Set up was perfect, strings set a note down to ship, ran them up a note oncereceived and I was playing this bad boy.When I receive a new guitar, the first thing I do (and I am sure most of you do) is run the fretting hand up and down the neck for the general feel of the guitar, and to make sure you don't come up with bloody fingers from bad fret work.The only Epiphone that comes close in value is the LP Goth with humbuckers.

Got this recently, opened the box, started playing and was pleasantly surprised. It has a thick biting sound to it. Reminds me of "Mississippi Queen" in your face type of sound. Nice change from a strat or les paul with humbuckers. Great for classic rock or any style really. I agree with others mentioning the fretboard dye coming off on your fingers the first time you play it. Wipe down the fretboard, change the strings, and your off and running. This is a great deal for $300.

I have owned an Epiphone Limited Edition Les Paul Special SC for several years (made in Korea so I suspect it is from an earlier production run). It plays amazingly well and I love the sound of the P-90 pickups. I like the slimmer body and reduced weight that make it more comfortable than a standard Les Paul or a Gibson Les Paul Special.I typically play through a guitar processor connected directly to the sound system but I also have a tube amp. I particularly like how well the pickups can be blended to achieve a tone that cuts just how I want it for a specific song plus the pickups sound great with tube-distortion effects. At one point I changed the strings to 10?s but quickly went back to 9?s because the 9?s provide the sparkle that I prefer with this guitar. I normally turn the tone down slightly (8.5) for both pickups and then blend the pickups to achieve the exact sound I want.Hardware, fit and finish are all excellent. Exemplary fretwork with no rough edges and the Grover tuners work very well. Excellent frets enable nice, smooth bends and it stays in tune as well or better than any other guitars I have owned. Compared to a low-end Gibson Les Paul Special I felt the Epiphone had superior playing feel, fret finishing and overall finish. I did not have an opportunity to compare the sound quality.I saw some comments that said the pots are noisy however I believe this is actually static affecting the single-coil pickups, similar to noise resulting from fingers brushing the pick guard. Increased static and RFI noise sensitivity is a trade-off for having that cutting single-coil sound.Other guitars I have owned include a Sheraton, Gibson ?58-style Les Paul with Burstbucker pickups and Classic Series 50?s Stratocaster. The Les Paul Special is the guitar I play the most due to an excellent combination of playability, tone and comfort.When assigning product ratings I chose 5 only for value because there are expensive, high-end guitars that would or at least should be somewhat better. However I am very satisfied with this guitar and believe it offers incredible value, the best I have encountered.I highly recommend this guitar to players of any level of skill or experience.

Being a part of a regularly-performing band and being a broke college student makes buying good gear a confusing experience. After playing top end Fenders and Gibsons on rare boutique amplifiers in-studio, finding an acceptable live substitute has been hard.Enter the Epiphone Les Paul Special SC. Bought this item as a B-stock item on sale (stickers and all still intact). Number one: the TV yellow color is incredible, with the wood grain just peeking through. Number two: through my Crate V18, a budget tube amp, the mahogany body and P90 single-coils deliver truckloads of growling, snarling, swampy tone. It sounds like a Telecaster that's been chained up and hasn't been fed in a couple of weeks. No need to upgrade the electronics - they sound great, though I've yet to really look at the wiring job (probably manageable at best).It came with the action set into the stratosphere - and I prefer a slightly higher action. Lowered it by probably 5 or 6 millimeters, and now it needs to be properly intonated. Inspector 16 at Epiphone needs a course in guitar setup, I'm guessing. Otherwise, fit and finish are fantastic, and it looks better than the Gibson (no, I'm not joking). An excellent buy. This one will see plenty of time on-stage, I'm sure.

I LOVE THIS GUITAR i played the gibson version and this, and i have to say i like this better than the gibson i think they need to have 1 in fireburst that whould be beast! but the finish is amazing as it is ;) i recomend it

Went to GC to get my guitar fix, wanted to try out some p90s, there was this and a gibby, I was honestly was hard pressed to justify spending an extra 600 for the gibson! There happened to be a gibby rep in the store who explained the differences, he said gibson now has their own factory in china so the QC has gone up.the diff are nitro vs poly, usa wound pups, better quality of mahogany and of course the gibby name and resale value, but honestly I thought this thing performed very well and I dont need to empress anyone with a name! All my guitars are modded, but out the box this needs nothing!

I named this axe Blackie, because as a previous reviewer mentioned the dye from the fretboard does get on your hands at first, but that does go away in time. I love this guitar, and bought it from Musicians Friend - a keeper for sure ! I've gigged with it, and it is so comfortable to play. I have it in the Yellow, and I know they list it TV Yellow, it is indeed more taxi-cab or bannana...but I love the color ! Really sharp with the black pickups. I dished out $ 379, and certainly worth it - the neck is really comfortable, and being a flat-top, it is somewhat easier to play than a Les Paul Standard . I've been a fan of Johnny Thunders for a long time, and always wanted something similar to what he was playing...without spending a ton of money - and that was done with this purchase . I highly recomend it !

... spring for this version. A student of mine got one and he had to fight me to get to play it during our lesson. Features are in line with Gibson version, upper-level quality for mainland Asian product, exemplary P-90 tones and a supremely good value. Cherry finish looks great and no visible joinery in the body.

From the moment I opened that Epiphone box and held that guitar in it's factory coverings, I knew we were going to be best friends. Now is it ridiculous to call a guitar your best friend? Perhaps, but no matter the case the Epiphone LP SC guitar is a testament to what Epiphone quality is about. It's TV yellow body looks cute as a button but deep inside lurks the power hungry force of it's screaming p-90 pickups. The only flaw to this amazing guitar is a factory defect in which one of the frets was partly scratched, was not a big deal though and can be fixed easily. For anyone, and I mean anyone who wants a quality guitar, beginner, intermediate, or advanced players, this is what you've been waiting for.